This post will be an expansion on my earlier thoughts on developing a platform for out-of-class, discussion-based assignments. To quickly review, my goal is to “snow-day-proof” my classes and also create a framework for online discussion that I can use for planned or impromptu out-of-class assignments. I envision a three-step process for these assignments: (1)…
Category: Technology Fellows
Filling in the Gaps Together: International Women’s Day Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon
By Lyndsay Bratton, Rose Oliveira, Becky Parmer, and Ariella Rotramel On Wednesday, March 8, we hosted the first annual International Women’s Day Wiki-Edit-A-Thon in Shain Library’s Advanced Technology Lab (ATL). International Women’s Day is observed throughout the world on March 8 and in some countries it is a public holiday. While celebrations in some countries…
Digital Portfolios: Showcasing Both Process and Product
On the last day of class during the final exam period, students enrolled in my Costume Design and Construction course are allotted thirty minutes to get into costume, hair and makeup before formally presenting their looks to the class and posing for a photoshoot. Each student’s best photo is posted, with permission, in an album…
Rubrics for efficiency and structure
*This post was written by Joyce Bennett and Rachel Black Why use rubrics We have been using rubrics for the new ConnCourse that we co-designed “Power and Inequality in a Globalized Word.” Joyce first taught the course in the fall of 2016, when she used rubrics for each of the writing assignments and the in-class…
Building an Italian Virtual City
One of the main challenges that I face in my second semester of elementary Italian is to strike a balance between meeting the needs of the students who want to continue studying the language and the needs of those who are not interested in continuing any further. How do I keep the former motivated and…
Building a New Approach to Online Discussions
Earlier this semester, I experimented with a “virtual class” on a day when snow closed down the college. Had there been class, students would have discussed a reading in small groups. Typically during these sessions, students spend roughly 2/3 of the class period working through discussion questions. The final 1/3 is spent debriefing with the…
Don’t Yuck Anyone’s Yum*: Using Google Drive and Moodle for Courses
In 2017, many faculty use an online platform to provide their students with course content and engage with them in or outside of the classroom. At Conn, we have two major ways to organize such work – Moodle and Google Drive. As I started to use Google Drive to organize my work from job applications…
Bringing Experts into Class to Increase Student Engagement
How do we increase student engagement in a topic that is new to them? How do we promote collaboration between a class and an invited guest/speaker? These were the questions that I faced last term in preparing for the Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble to be in residence at Connecticut College as part of the Ammerman…
Building a bibliographic portfolio with RefWorks
Co-authored by James Gelarden, Access Services Librarian Building a bibliographic portfolio is a way for students and researchers to work smarter rather than harder. RefWorks is a tool that allows users to create bibliographies, organize references around a theme, and collaborate and share their bibliographic research. In October, we held a workshop for ANT 201…
Swivl toward Lecture Recording
This semester Joe Schroeder is using a Swivl, a robotic mount that holds an iPad or smartphone, to record lectures in Behavioral Neuroscience. With the use of a remote that the presenter wears, the Swivl tracks a moving person and uses the camera on the iPad or smartphone to record. Lectures or presentation are stored…